PREVIEW of ILLINI/Indiana Dual & Cougar Clash
OVERVIEW: A SPLIT SQUAD
In the recent Coach's Corner podcast, ILLINI Wrestling Coach Mike Poeta indicated that the Cougar Clash, which is next Saturday, was initially the only thing on the schedule next weekend. Then, the B1G offered the Fan Fest dual in Indianapolis the day before the conference football championship. It also fell on the day before the Cougar Clash.
Still, Coach Poeta said it was easy to agree to the offer.
So, next Friday, December 6, the ILLINI will be in Indianapolis for the dual with the Hoosiers. The next day, Saturday, a split squad will show up to the Cougar Clash in Edwardsville. To wrestle in both events, the ILLINI starters in Indianapolis would need to get on the bus by 6:30 pm (Central), take a three-and-one-half-hour drive (225 miles) to Edwardsville, arriving around 10:00 to 11:00 pm (Central) for a tournament starting the next morning.
Not impossible, but also not conducive to winning matches. All of the other big name schools at the Cougar Clash (Missouri, Minnesota, Little Rock, NIU and SIUE) have at least six days off before the Clash. Coach talks about the Fan Fest event near the end of the video at 33:40:
WHAT: B1G TAKEDOWN at the FAN FEST
WHO: ILLINI dual Indiana
WHERE: Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN
WHEN: Friday, December 6 @ 4:00 PM Central
TV/STREAMING: BTN
TICKETS: Ticket Prices are $12 adults, $6 children age 3-12 (Gets you into Fan Fest)
A DAY IN HISTORY
It was February 13, 2005, a Sunday.
Your little brother still has three days to wait until the release of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and he swears he's gonna stay locked up in his room until Moms buys him a copy of that video game. Hitch made Sony Pictures over ten million at the box office on the day. Feathery-voiced Mario topped the Billboard charts with Let Me Love You.
But the real entertainment happened that Sunday afternoon in Huff Hall, as your soon-to-be 2005 B1G wrestling champions destroyed #19 Indiana by the score of 37-0. Mark Jayne captured his 99th varsity win, while Anton Dietzen and Kyle Ott each scored six points for the team.
It was a long bus ride home to Roundballville for the Loosiers. Here's the box score:
125: #2 Kyle Ott (ILL) won by forfeit (6-0)
133: #4 Mark Jayne (ILL) Major dec. Brian Dyer (IND), 13-3 (10-0)
141: Cassio Pero (ILL) dec. Cameron Sakon (IND), 8-2 (13-0)
149: #12 Anton Dietzen (ILL) won by fall Ryan Pribble (IND), 9-2 (19-0)
157: #3 Alex Tirapelle (ILL) dec. #19 Brandon Becker (IND), 4-3 (22-0)
165: #11 Donny Reynolds (ILL) dec. Max Dean (IND), 8-5 (25-0)
174: #4 Pete Friedl (ILL) dec. Brady Richardson (IND), 7-1 (28-0)
184: #3 Brian Glynn (ILL) dec. #20 Andy Rios (IND), 4-3 (31-0)
197: #9 Tyrone Byrd (ILL) dec. Josh Buuck (IND), 3-2 (34-0)
Hwt: Mike Behnke (ILL) dec. Dave Herman (IND), 3-2 (37-0)TEAM MATCHUP
In all of the 2000s, the record between the two schools is thirteen wins for the ILLINI and zero wins for Indiana. Wow! That's an even worse record than Northwestern! It's been slow-going, but Angel Escobedo has steadily improved his team. Under the prior administration, they would have a nonconference schedule with D2 schools and lowest-tier D1 teams and end up with an undefeated record.
Then, lose all of their B1G duals.
According to Intermat, ILLINOIS' dual ranking is #11; Indiana's is #28. Wrestlestat.com has the ILLINI at #12, while the Hoosiers come in at #30. The prediction is for a 32-0 win for the good guys. Indiana is 4-0 on the season with wins over Cal Baptist, Cal Poly, a one-point win over #40 Central Michigan and a two-point win over #49 Columbia.
The ILLINI are 5-0 with three wins over top twenty-five teams, including Missouri, ASU and North Carolina.
INDIVIDUAL MATCHUPS
The co-main events for the dual are Edmond Ruth versus Donnell Washington and Braeden Scoles against either Derek Gilcher or Tyler Lillard. Additionally, the Hoosiers have a 7-1 wrestler at 125 who can cause some problems. The teams aren't evenly matched, but a complete shutout is unlikely. The rankings listed below are from Wrestlestat.com unless otherwise specified.
125. #28 RAMAZAN ATTASAUOV v. #38 JACOB MORAN. The Hoosier is 7-1 on the season with the one loss to #3 Caleb Smith of Nebraska by the score of 1-2. He has a 2-1 record against ILLINI that includes a sudden victory loss to Justin Cardani in a dual and two easy wins over Maximo Renteria.
Even if Ramazan wrestles, this is going to be a tough out for the ILLINI. Coach Poeta believes that CAELAN RILEY is one big-time win away from asserting himself. We hope that this is it, but until it happens, advantage Hoosiers. Wrestlestat.com has it as a 9-4 win for Ramazan.
133. #5 LUCAS BYRD v. #24 ANGELO RINI. Including his All-Star match, Lucas has had a tough schedule to start the season, and it continues with Rini. The Hoosier's record against common opponents is 6-17, while Byrd is 23-10.
Rini has some nice wins, including #12 Nic Bouzakis and #29 Kurt Phipps, but he's not been that close against the upper echelon folks at 133. His matches with them are either five- or six-point losses or major decisions. Wrestlestat.com straddles that line with a predicted 10-3 win for Byrd is the Wyrd.
141. #17 DANNY PUCINO v. #58 HENRY PORTER. The Indiana kid is 6-3 on the season with bonus point losses to the #30, #34 and #3 wrestlers. He lost to Will Baysingar 1-2 at last year's Greyhound Open. Wrestlestat.com is predicting a 12-7 win for Pucino.
With the roll that Danny's been on to start the season, we can't argue with that. Porter has a pretty nice 22-13 record in college, and this is the fourth year he's been wrestling college kids, and he's certainly tough, but Pucino has looked extra special this season.
149. #7 KANNON WEBSTER v. #131 ANTHONY BAHL. Bahl wrestled in Indiana's first three duals, but in the last one, it was #71 Aiden Torres. In either case, you can expect multiple bonus points.
Perhaps you should feel sorry for the Indiana fella, but no, he's from Indiana. Bahl has an 8-9 career mark, 2-4 this year. Wrestlestat.com has a Kannon Webster tech fall if he wrestles. Torres has a 13-12 career mark, 5-5 on the season, and Wrestlestat.com indicates the Hoosier will lose by a 14-3 major decision.
157. #36 JASON KRAISSER v. #34 BRYCE LOWERY. When we first drafted this Preview, Kraisser was #34 in WrestleStat.com, while Lowery was #35. Even though Cardiac Kraisser is now the lower-ranked wrestler, the algorithm still picks him as the solid 8-5 winner.
Lowery is 2-0 on the year, but he hasn't wrestled the last two duals. Instead, that was #214 Ryan Garvick, who is a 3-5 true Freshman. Wrestlestat.com indicates that a match between him and Kraisser will end in a tech fall. Judging from his results, we agree.
165. #14 BRAEDEN SCOLES v. #16 DEREK GILCHER. One of our headline matchups will be at this weight no matter who shows up for the Hoosiers. Scoles is playing the beautiful game out there with 100% win and bonus rates. We think the 100% win rate continues against Gilcher or #26 Tyler Lillard.
Lillard lost to Gilcher at the Navy Classic, but it's been the former who has wrestled in all of the Indiana duals. This year, he is 7-3 with losses to the #16, #25 and #28 wrestlers.
Both Gilcher (at 157) and Lillard (at 165) earned a spot in the Big Dance last season and both won a match there. Wrestlestat.com's prognostication is for a two to three point win for Braeden over either of them. That'll make the folks over to the Braeden Scoles Fan Page very happy.
174. #24 DANNY BRAUNAGEL v. #54 ROMAN ROGOTZKE. The majority of Rogotzke's matches have been at 184, and he's actually had more starts at 197 than 174. The Indiana kid has never been to the NCAA tournament, even with his 19-15 record at 184 last season.
Overall, he's 35-28.
Wrestlestat.com is calling for an 8-7 win for the ILLINI, but with the way the Brawlnagel has been wrestling, we think Danny pads that with a couple more points.
184. #11 EDMOND RUTH v. #32 DONNELL WASHINGTON. The other marquee matchup is this one between Ruth and Washington. The Hoosier and the ILLINI are ranked too low, but Washington's only had two matches so far this season. He's 2-0 with a nice overall career mark of 75-39.
Like Ruthless, the Hoosier spent his college years at 174 until this year's move up in weight. He has qualified for NCAAs three times and finished R16 once.
This might be a bit of a grudge match as well, with Edmond holding a win against him at the NCAAs--no less--by one point. Wrestlestat.com has it as an 8-4 ILLINI win. That sounds about right.
It sounds even more right when you consider that Ruth is 25-8 against common opponents, while his foe is 18-18 versus the same guys.
197. #12 ZAC BRAUNAGEL v. #57 GABE SOLLARS. Poor Gabe Sollars. He was just your average D1 college wrestler going about his business, and then he ended up wrestling Zac Braunagel.
During the last two seasons, Sollars has beaten the #39 and #41 wrestlers at 197. Those are going away his best wins. He did give #12 Jaxon Smith a close match one time.
The Hoosier is 5-2 this year with losses to the #41 and #67 wrestlers. He had a pretty nice 20-14 record last season, but that included a 0-2 BBQ at the B1G championships.
Zac is 11-4 against the same guys who have given Sollars a 5-9 record. Wrestlestat.com's algorithm is spitting out an 8-4 win for the Brawlnagel. We think it is likely to be much more.
285. #13 LUKE LUFFMAN v. #31 JACOB BULLOCK. Y'all ready for another grudge match? LUUUUKE has a 2-0 record over Bullock in college, and both matches were years ago. The Hoosier continued to wrestle while the ILLINI was injured, and the pinstriped kid seems to have gotten better.
But the ILLINI also seems better, quicker and even more conditioned. These are two big, quick guys, so the fans should enjoy a good fast, technical bout, unless they get bogged down in strategery.
Two-and-a-half years ago, it was Luffman with the 5-4 win at the dual. The year before that, Luke earned a major decision against him.
Bullock is 51-43 overall and 6-2 this season. His two losses are to guys who the Pride of Urbana has beaten in the past by scores of 18-6 and 8-1. Against common foes, the ILLINI is 18-14, while the Hoosier if 8-21. Wrestlestat.com sees a three-point win for the ILLINI. We think it'll be more.
CONCLUSION
Wrestlestat.com has the ILLINI winning all ten matches. That could happen, but it's unlikely. The Hoosiers will be fired up and want to put on a show in front of a kind of "home crowd."
There are also enough potentially close matches that an upset is very likely to happen. In fact, Indiana losing at 125 would be an upset.
The ILLINI will need to bring it because there are five matches the Hoosiers could win. They shouldn't and won't, but they could. The Orange and Blue will need to bring it all night. Prediction: 29-10 Fighting ILLINI.
WHO: Multi-Team Tournament (see below for list of teams)
WHAT: Cougar Clash
WHERE: First Community Arena, Edwardsville, ILLINOIS
WHEN: Saturday, December 7, beginning at 10:00 AM Central
TV/STREAMING: FloWrestling
TICKETS: $5.00 online; $8.00 walkup; Free children < 5
OVERVIEW
As mentioned above, expect a split squad at this event. You are likely to see a crew similar to that which showed up for the recent Jim Koch Open.
There, true Freshmen, redshirt Freshmen and a few veterans got to enter a tournament to get some matches. This was who repped the O&B and how much they scored:
| Name | Group | Weight Class | Actual Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moore, Chris | College | 174 | 172.5 | 16.0 |
| Swaw, Logan | College | 157 | 156.2 | 15.5 |
| Harrier, Jake | College | 149 | 148.6 | 15.0 |
| Ruzic, Anthonty | College | 125 | 124.5 | 12.0 |
| Ivanisevic, Marko | College | 285 | 238.0 | 12.0 |
| Ernd, Caden | College | 165 | 164.4 | 10.0 |
| Colon, Jayden | College | 141 | 140.6 | 5.0 |
| Baysingar, William | College | 141 | 140.6 | 4.5 |
| Beers, Brian | College | 133 | 132.3 | 1.5 |
| Fifield, Charlie | College | 157 | 156.6 | 1.5 |
| Walker, Olin | College | 141 | 133.6 | 0.5 |
| Goebel, Hudson | College | 149 | 148.4 | 0.5 |
| Marinopoulos, Peter | College | 285 | 233.2 | 0.0 |
The fact that Peter Marinopoulos had to medical forfeit out of the tournament is scary. Joey Ruzic's weight is intriguing, as he's listed at 133 on the roster.
Another name that we pretty much know will be at the Cougar Clash is Ryan Bennett, as he implied as much in a recent interview.
There'll only be eight teams at the event, and likely no ILLINI starters. In the past, teams have shown up with multiple wrestlers at a weight. We hope the ILLINI do as well.
TEAMS
The eight teams showing up are #5 Minnesota, #12 Missouri, #13 ILLINOIS (split squad), #20 Little Rock, #27 Northern Colorado, #61 Northern ILLINOIS, #62 SIUE and #67 Bellarmine.
INDIVIDUAL WRESTLERS
Some of the top ten wrestlers who will represent other teams include Keegan The Tool, Gable Steveson, Nasir Bailey, Andrew Alirez, Vance Vombauer, Stevo Poulin, Cooper Flynn, Jordan Williams, Tommy Askey, Vince Zerban, Cam Steed, Andrew Sparks, Max McEnelly, Colton Hawks, Stephen Little, Rocky Elam and Isaiah Salazar.
The ILLINI youth corp can gain a lot of experience in a tournament like that!
CONGRATULATIONS
At that recent Jim Koch Open, the ILLINI won 36 matches in the tournament, and that included Finalists Jake Harrier and Logan Swaw. Also finishing top four were Chris Moore (3rd) and Anthony "Joey" Ruzic (4th).
Caden Ernd won four matches there.
The ILLINI true Freshmen who won their first ever matches in college included Joey Ruzic, Olin Walker, Jayden Colon and Marko Ivanisevic. That's fantastic! Congratulations!
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