ILLINI WRESTLING Wranglemania Recap (Binghamton and ASU)
THE COACH'S PERSPECTIVE
The meme chart above is from the FloWrestling interview of ILLINI Wrestling Coach Mike Poeta after the ASU result. Coach IMAR, Coach Medlin and Lucas Byrd are the photobombers. In the interview, Coach Poeta praised the whole team and said that they came out with a purpose after "poor body language" in the Binghamton dual.
He told the story of a journey to Pennsylvania that lasted from seven in the morning until nine at night the evening before the event. Also, the Flo interviewer bestowed the "Most Outstanding Team" award on the ILLINI for their performance at the Wranglemania Duals.
THE FAN'S PERSPECTIVE
To find an equally exciting dual result, we have to go back to January 17, 2021. The ILLINI beat Ohio State 18-15 that afternoon, with Lucas Byrd, Danny Pucino, Danny Braunagel, Zac Braunagel, Matt Wroblewski and Luke Luffman getting their hands raised. That match was exciting because the Buckeyes were flying high at the time, and the young team from ILLINOIS beat a load of All Americans and future All Americans.
This was different, but equally satisfying because the O&B totally dominated a really good Sun Devil team from top to bottom. As Coach said in his interview, there were guys "hunched over" with "bad body language" during the Binghamton dual (although still a nice 30-10 win), but they shrugged it off and put together a total team effort.
In short, the fans are PUMPED!
THE BOX SCORES
These are ripped from the internet pages of FightingILLINI.com, and they show, combining both duals, four pins, two tech falls, three major decisions and seven additional regular decisions. After three matches each, Kannon Webster, Braeden Scoles and Zac Braunagel still have 100% bonus rates.
Those three and Lucas Byrd, Danny Pucino, Jason Kraisser and Luke Luffman have 100% win rates. Pucino, Kraisser and Luffman have 66.7% bonus rates. Individually, and as a team, those are great stats.
BINGHAMTON RESULTS
| Weight | Matchup | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 125: | Carson Wagner (BING) dec. Caelan Riley (ILL), 10-5 | ILL 0 I BING 3 |
| 133: | #3 Lucas Byrd (ILL) dec. Micah Roes (BING), 3-2 | ILL 3 I BING 3 |
| 141: | #19 Danny Pucino (ILL) major dec. Nate Lucier (BING), 14-4 | ILL 7 I BING 3 |
| 149: | #10 Kannon Webster (ILL) tech. fall Ivan Garcia (BING), 21-3 (5:00) | ILL 12 I BING 3 |
| 157: | #21 Jason Kraisser (ILL) dec. Fin Nadeau (BING), 6-4 | ILL 15 I BING 3 |
| 165: | #33 Braeden Scoles (ILL) pins Carter Baer (BING), fall (5:20) | ILL 21 I BING 3 |
| 174: | #15 Brevin Cassella (BING) major dec. #19 Danny Braunagel (ILL), 14-1 | ILL 21 I BING 7 |
| 184: | Will Ebert (BING) dec. #7 Edmond Ruth (ILL), 2-0 | ILL 21 I BING 10 |
| 197: | #10 Zac Braunagel (ILL) tech. fall Andrew Bailey (BING), 17-2 (3:25) | ILL 26 I BING 10 |
| 285: | #13 Luke Luffman (ILL) major dec. #16 Cory Day (BING), 11-1 | ILL 30 I BING 10 |
ARIZONA STATE RESULTS
| Weight | Matchup | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 125: | #1 Richard Figueroa (ASU) pins Caelan Riley (ILL), fall (3:55) | ILL 0 I ASU 6 |
| 133: | #3 Lucas Byrd (ILL) dec. #18 Julian Chlebove (ASU), 4-0 | ILL 3 I ASU 6 |
| 141: | #19 Danny Pucino (ILL) dec. Emilio Ysaguirre (ASU), 4-1 | ILL 6 I ASU 6 |
| 149: | #10 Kannon Webster (ILL) major dec. #14 Jesse Vasquez (ASU), 21-7 | ILL 10 I ASU 6 |
| 157: | #21 Jason Kraisser (ILL) pins Michael Kilic (ASU), fall (2:22) | ILL 16 I ASU 6 |
| 165: | #33 Braeden Scoles (ILL) pins #15 Nicco Ruiz (ASU), fall (2:53) | ILL 22 I ASU 6 |
| 174: | #19 Danny Braunagel (ILL) dec. Chance McLane (ASU), 6-3 | ILL 25 I ASU 6 |
| 184: | #7 Edmond Ruth (ILL) dec. Azizbek Fayzullaev (ASU), 11-7 | ILL 28 I ASU 6 |
| 197: | #10 Zac Braunagel (ILL) pins Jacob Meissner (ASU), fall (3:46) | ILL 34 I ASU 6 |
| 285: | #13 Luke Luffman (ILL) dec. #4 Cohlton Schultz (ASU), SV-1 2-1 | ILL 37 I ASU 6 |
INDIVIDUAL RECAPS
285. LUKE LUFFMAN. This boy had a day. He beat two ranked wrestlers, one of those being Cohlton Schultz, the four-time All American, National Finalist, ten-time World Team member and three-time World medalist. Before that, Luffman faced a Binghamton wrestler who was ranked by some services ahead of Luuuke. The ILLINI simply manhandled that wrestler, Cory Day, with multiple takedowns and earned the 11-1 major decision.
Against Schultz, Luffman kept busy and earned the stall call in the sudden victory period after actually attempting multiple takedowns. This was great for the scouting report. That snatch single can be there in the NCAA tournament if Luke is behind the traveling mountain known as Cohlton Schultz. The key word for Luffman this day was SMARTS. He didn't attempt a head-on dive-for-the-legs double against Schultz. He chose neutral against Day, who is a pinning machine.
Luuuke has always had the agility, strength and quickness, but now he's wrestling even smarter.
197. ZAC BRAUNAGEL. The Brawlnagel had a pin and a tech fall on the day. Against both wrestlers he piled up the takedowns. In the match with Arizona State, though, his opponent went a little too heavy on the clubs which pissed the ILLINI right off. So, he just added another takedown and landed with the leg turked. He used it to get the Sun Devil close to his back, then he jumped over into an Assassin and finished the pin!
So far this year (including the wrestle-off), Zac's only weakness appears to be allowing his opponent a quick start. However, after those first few seconds, his strength, agility, speed and flexibility (we saw full splits yesterday) take over. He earned a total of eleven team points for the ILLINI between his two matches.
It was a good day.
184. EDMOND RUTH. We can't explain what happened in Ruth's first match against Binghamton. Our best guess is that Danny Braunagel and he practice together and had the same cold or flu. Looking back over both of their careers, we can't recall either of them gassing like that in matches, and certainly not both on the same day.
In any event, Edmond let his Uzbeki opponent from ASU in for a trip takedown early in the first period. Instead of sucking at riding like we hoped, Azizbeck Fayzullaev promptly trapped an ankle and put keen pressure on Ruth's upper body.
In the second and third periods, the ILLINI came alive with multiple brilliant throws. The keys to the matches seemed to be the Binghamton wrestler running away from Edmond's underhooks, while the Sun Devil welcomed him and (mistakenly) thought he could get the better result from the hold. After watching both matches, we think our guy was a little under the weather.
174. DANNY BRAUNAGEL. The Brawlnagel had a rough day to start but finished up nicely. He faced one of the two ranked wrestlers from Binghamton, and, as we mentioned above, it sure looked like cold and flu season struck him.
In the match against Arizona State, Danny was red-faced in the first period. He labored through the rest of the match, and was smart enough to ride tough for a whole period, making his opponent carry his weight. He gutted out that match against the Oklahoma State transfer.
165. BRAEDEN SCOLES. Had himself THE DAY with two pins. It was all over for Carter Baer, who looked like a bear, after only 5:20 of mat time. Against the highly ranked Nicco Ruiz, Braeden gave up two takedowns to one escape before reaching back from bottom to reverse and pin the Sun Devil.
That ILLINI guy is a pinner.
It looked similar to Lucas Byrd from the bottom, going not for the escape, but for the reversal. This time, in getting the reversal, Scoles threw Ruiz right to his back. There was only 2:53 of mat time. My question is this: Do any future ILLINI opponents intend to try to ride Lucas Byrd, Braeden Scoles or Jason Kraisser? If the answer to that question is "yes," then why? The Wisky four-timer has a couple of secret weapons that lead to pinning combinations.
We think it's important to note that even if Ruiz had somehow escaped the pinning combination, the match score would've been 7-6 in the good guy's favor.
157. JASON KRAISSER. The Iowa State transfer had himself a pin and a decision on the day. The Binghamton wrestler wanted no part of Kraisser on the mat and survived with only a loss to his name. The Sun Devil brought the match to the mat--the technical acronym for that is FAFO--and Jason made him pay in only 2:22 of mat time.
We published a video of a Gator Bacon that the ILLINI hit against Binghamton in his first match. We liked it because of the high-flying action, but also because of the immaculate nature of the chain wrestling involved.
Kraisser shoots in, the Bearcat defends, then tries his own shot and picks up a leg, and here's the great chain wrestling part: Before the Binghamton wrestler even knew that a Gator Bacon was possible, usually the defensive wrestler is bouncing around on one leg for twenty seconds before any action, BAM, immediately the ILLINI hit him with the throw.
That was Art.
149. KANNON WEBSTER. The total match points scored by the Washington phenom in his two matches was 42. That, of course, is the answer to the question about Life, the Universe and Everything. Along the way, Kannon picked up a tech fall and a major decision.
The big match of the two, of course, was against Jesse Vasquez of Arizona State. The Sun Devil brought in a very nice #14 ranking and a high school pedigree that included four California state titles. It was Vasquez who got the first takedown, but after that, he began to crumble.
With all the pressure brought to bear on him by Webster, it was only a short time before he began to collapse like a building being demolished by a true demolition expert. Even Zeke Jones' humanitarian gesture of providing a brick for a two-point near-fall couldn't stop the structure's ultimate collapse.
Expect the ILLINI prodigy to go up in the rankings!
141. DANNY PUCINO. We like to watch Danny Pucino wrestle. He's like a celebrity chef who brings something new and amazing to the table every time. Yesterday, there was a major decision and a regular decision over a highly-ranked foe on the serving platter.
Against his Binghamton opponent, Danny PUCINO'D the poor guy with a boot-scoot-trip that gets four Michelin stars. We think that his list of takedowns must look as crowded as a Chinese menu.
Against Emillio Ysaguirre of ASU, it was a scoreless first period in which the World's Only Italian Leprechaun nimbly skipped away from his Sun Devil attacker about seven times just like this:
Seriously, we think it was six or seven times.
With :15 seconds to go in the second period, after his escape, Danny hit a head-inside single brought the leg up and tripped down his Sun Devil with :03 to go in the period. As any self-respecting celebrity chef would say, "Enjoy."
133. LUCAS BYRD. We think that Julian Chlebove is a slick, slick wrestler. He's got style, he's got moves. However, in three matches against Lucas Byrd, he's scored zero points. Bupkis. And in this last of the three matches, you can hear the Flo announcer say, "Byrd's getting mean."
Sure, he's also stingy.
Chlebove is not only slick, but he's a top twenty-ranked wrestler by all the services and a National Qualifier. In the third period, Lucas uses a reattack single to get the takedown. He rides him out to the end of the period just so that the Sun Devil still can't score a point on him.
Against anybody else, we swear, Chlebove is slick. Not against Lucas.
125. CAELAN RILEY. We saw Ramazan Attasauov on the bench, and he's apparently banged up. Only Caelan is listed for today in the Journeymen Collegiate Classic round robin tournament. Coach Poeta gave praise to his efforts in the duals. We can see why. Against a returning National Champion, he attempted at least three takedowns, picked an ankle while his opponent was trying to lift his head, got a stall warning on the Champ, and he escaped from him.
Still, Riley needs more seasoning. He has some brilliant pieces of wrestling but he hasn't put them together to make a whole yet. He has an opportunity to fill into a complete wrestler in the room, while working with Coach Hunter, Lucas Byrd and Ramazan Attasauov.
CONCLUSION
We are very happy.
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