PREVIEW: THE ILLINI v. MARYLAND

 

POLL: Should this image be in every preview? Your choices are "Yes" and "Duh." 

WHAT: The ILLINI dual Maryland

WHEN: Friday, January 24 at 6:00 pm Central

WHERE: College Park, Maryland

TV/STREAMING: BTN+ (subscription service)

STREAK:  The ILLINI are 8-0 in the series

WHY WE HATE MARYLAND

I'm having a rage seizure thinking about this state. The name sounds like a cheesy amusement park or Putt-Putt course. Maryland was actually named after a lady who wasn't even technically a queen because she was the wrong religion and was never coronated and then fled England as soon as her husband's head was chopped off.  

Moreover, there's this phrase, "a bunch of Mary's." It refers to a group of men who won't fight or who don't fight well. Perfect. 

Finally, the state had THE IDEAL OPPORTUNITY to change its name. In 1776, there was a freaking revolution! You can bet that it was discussed at high-level meetings, and a bunch of Mary's probably chimed in with, "Well, it's already on all the stationery." 

THE RUTGERS MATCH

Maryland will only have one match this weekend. The ILLINI will have two. After traveling to College Park for that dual, they'll need to hit Piscataway, New Jersey for a dual with Rutgers on Sunday at Noon Central. ILLINOIS is 3-2 all time against the Scarlet Knights. 

In a tweet discussing the top tier of the conference, Shane Sparks gave them bulletin board material by putting the Orange and Blue above the team from Jersey. On the other hand, Wrestlestat.com is going with a 16-15 win for the bad guys. There will be great matches up and down the lineup, but wins from the Brawlnagels and Luuuuke Luffman will be key to victory. 

SCOUTING MARYLAND

The ILLINI are #13 according to Wrestle.com and have a 7-2 dual record with wins over SIUE (41-3), Binghamton (30-10), Arizona State (37-6), Missouri (23-14), North Carolina (24-14), Indiana (34-3) and Northwestern (33-7). The losses were to Ohio State (9-24) and Iowa (6-28). 

Maryland is 8-5, and for the first time, starts the B1G season 3-0. They have a team ranking of #28 on Wrestlestat.com. The Terps have wins over Kent State (29-10), Bucknell (26-11), American (38-0), Morgan State (43-3), Michigan (19-18), Michigan State (27-11) and Wisconsin (24-13). Losses were to Pitt (12-25), Rider (17-18), SDSU (7-27), Binghamton (10-28) and Columbia (18-19). 

We're not sure which dual box score would be the most relevant to our discussion, maybe the loss to common opponent Binghamton, but we know which one is the funniest, so we'll show the win over Michigan:

125: Christian Tanefeu major dec. (12-4) Tyler Garvin (Michigan 4, Maryland 0)

133: No. 14/15 Braxton Brown fall (5:45) Nolan Wertanen (Maryland 6, Michigan 4)

141: No. 12/9 Sergio Lemley dec. (6-3) Dario Lemus (Michigan 7, Maryland 6)

149: No. 29/32 Kal Miller dec. (4-3) No. 28 Derek Gilcher dec. (Maryland 9, Michigan 7)

157: No. 6/8 Ethen Miller dec. (4-2) No. 16/19 Chase Saldate (Maryland 12, Michigan 7) 

165: No. 26 Beau Mantanona dec. (6-4) Alex Uryniak (Maryland 12, Michigan 10)

174: No. 32 Branson John dec. (5-4) No. 25 Joseph Walker (Maryland 15, Michigan 10)

184: No. 13/11 Jaxon Smith dec. (4-1) No. 19 Jaden Bullock (Maryland 18, Michigan 10)

197: No. 3/2 Jacob Cardenas tech fall (15-0, 4:54) Chase Mielnik (Maryland 18, Michigan 15)

285: No. 10/12 Josh Heindselman dec. (4-2) No. 13/14 Seth Nevills (Maryland 18, Michigan 18)

• ***the Terps earned a point on criteria for the pin at 133, making the final score 19-18 in favor of Maryland

A DAY IN HISTORY

It's January 30, 2015.

At the movies, you can choose between American Sniper, Project Almanac and Paddington. You're thinking that Paddington would be so awesome if you were like four. Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift are playing on the radio. 

Not your cup of tea. 

But the day will turn out to be nearly perfect as you head to Huff Hall to catch the ILLINI wrestling team put a Chicago back alley beatdown on Maryland. You get to see Jesse Delgado and IMAR on the same team along with Zane Richards, Jackson Morse, Steven Rodrigues and Zac Brunson, all of whom were, or would become, All Americans, although seeing Delgado in that shoulder brace kinda makes you sad. 

How did that ILLINI team not win the NCAA tournament? 

The Maryland wrestling team must be thinking the same thing as they get beat 3-32. IMAR and Morse get tech falls, while Zane rolls up a major. It is a good day. Here's a link to the recap; the box score and video highlights are below:

#4 Illinois 32, Maryland 3

157: #2 Isaiah Martinez (ILL) over Lou Mascola (MARY) (TF 20-4, 4:32)
165: #8 Jackson Morse (ILL) over Tyler Manion (MARY) (TF 18-2, 4:15)
174: #8 Zac Brunson (ILL) over Josh Snook (MARY) (Dec 4-1)
184: #18 Nikko Reyes (ILL) over Tony Gardner (MARY) (Dec 6-2)
197: Jeff Koepke (ILL) over Rob Fitzgerald (MARY) (Dec 4-3)
285: Brooks Black (ILL) over #13 Spencer Myers (MARY) (TB1 2-1)
125: #1 Jesse Delgado (ILL) over Josh Polacek (MARY) (Dec 3-2)
133: #2 Zane Richards (ILL) over #16 Geoffrey Alexander (MARY) (MD 14-4)
141: #13 Steven Rodrigues (ILL) over Shyhiem Brown (MARY) (Dec 3-2)
149: Ben Dorsay (MARY) over Kyle Langenderfer (ILL) (Dec 3-1)

THE INDIVIDUAL MATCHUPS

125. #173 CAELAN RILEY vs. #165 Tyler Garvin. This is Caelan's time. Wrestlestat.com is predicting an 11-5 win for the kid from Lockport. That's not just a win, but a blowout!

Garvin is a true Freshman with a 4-13 recored and a current nine-match losing streak. He has beaten the #74 wrestler from American, though, so Caelan will need to be sharp.  

133. #3 LUCAS BYRD vs. #16 Braxton Brown. It's just so unfortunate for the Terp. Byrd is coming off a loss, which doesn't happen often, and that surely pisses him off mightily. The algorithm is only calling for a two-point win for Byrd is the Wyrd, but we think more is better. Against common opponents, the ILLINI is 11-3, while Brown is 6-7. 

Brown has a very nice 15-1 record and is 70-26 in his career. Almost half of those wins and losses were at 125 during his first two seasons. His one loss this year was to #3 Zeth Romney by seven points, and he's never beaten a Wrestlestat.com top fifteen grappler. The algorithm predicts a two-point win for Lucas. 

141. #19 DANNY PUCINO vs. #99 Dario Lemus. The Maryland kid's ranking is a little whack because he was a quality recruit from Clovis at #28 on the big board and 3rd at 138 pounds. But Danny has just come back from beating a young, even better wunderkind in Iowa City on that boy's home mat. Pucino is 4-2 against the same folks who put an 0-3 record on Lemus. Wrestlestat.com is calling for a two-point win for the Orange and Blue. 

149. #11 KANNON WEBSTER vs. #39 Kal Miller. This is the match in which Kannon exacts a measure of revenge for his brother. Miller beat Danny Pucino at the B1G conference tournament a couple years ago and took a qualifying bid. We obviously hate him for that. 

Miller was a two-time Missouri state champion and a Fargo AA. He has a 12-4 record this season with losses to the #50, #20, #17 and #34 wrestlers. He does have a win over #27 Devin Gilcher of Michigan. Of course, his two prior seasons were spent at 141. 

157. #42 JASON KRAISSER vs. #18 Ethen Miller. They have similar results against common opponents, but Miller has the better overall record of 79-24 compared to 63-40. Although Miller has been to two NCAA tournaments, and Kraisser has only been to one, the latter made it to the Round of 16. 

The Terp is a big strong fella, so Jason will need to use his excellent conditioning and mind-blowing scrambles to wear him out. Wrestlestat.com is calling for an 8-4 win for Miller.

165. #23 BRAEDEN SCOLES vs. #81 John Martin Best or #118 Alex Uryniak. Wrestlestat.com has Best wrestling here, but it's been Uryniak who has wrestled in all of the recent duals. He's having a very hard time with that, and you can expect Scoles to put some points on the board. If it is Best who takes the mat, Wrestlestat.com is calling for a two-point victory for the ILLINI. 

Uryniak got majored by the #118 wrestler from Wisky, beat the #132 Spartan by three points, and actually gave Michigan's Beau Mantanona a close two-point match. Best started for the Terps two years ago but had a 6-17 record. He's been out with an injury since mid-December.

 

 

174. #31 DANNY BRAUNAGEL vs. #44 John Branson. The kid from Maryland is just a kid, a true Freshman with a 9-10 record. He recently beat the #35 guy from Michigan, as well as the #40 and #47 wrestlers. In his last match, though, he was majored by #34 Lucas Condon of Wisconsin. Wrestlestat.com is giving the Brawlnagel a two-point victory, but it is likely to be more. 

184. #14 EDMOND RUTH vs. #11 Jaxon Smith. Wrestlestat.com is giving Smith a one-point win. It will be the marque matchup of the night, and it will have heavy implications for Big Ten and NCAA tournament seedings. Both have similar NCAA tournament resumes except Smith was at 197 and made it to the Round of Twelve, while Edmond was at 174 and finished as an All American. 

Zac Braunagel has had some battles with Smith, so he can be helpful. Ruth should have a huge speed and maneuverability advantage, while the Terp will be another one of those muscle-heads. 

197. #16 ZAC BRAUNAGEL vs. #79 Chase Mielnik. The algorithm is predicting a major decision for the Brawlnagel, but Mielnik's been teched in two of his last three matches. He is a pale reminder of what once was at this weight for the Terps, kind of like the Maryland wrestling team's Jim Belushi.

These two have wrestled some of the very best at 184 and 197, and while Zac is 6-8 against that crew, the Terp is 1-12. He's 10-9 on the season, 43-58 for his career. 

  

285. LUKE LUFFMAN vs. Seth Nevills. Every dual the Wrestlestat.com dial goes wacko, and it did it for this match, giving Nevills a 9-4 win. Now, it's true that Nevills does have the 6-3 head-to-head win, but, my friend, that was back in 2020. It's also true that Nevills has a sparkling 13-1 record so far this season, but he's only wrestled one top fifteen heavyweight, and I bet you can guess who gave him that loss. 

That was #14 Josh Heindselman of Michigan. Nevills needed overtime to beat Seth Nitzel of Missouri, while LUUUUKE got that job done in regulation. Like always, we suggest you mortgage the house, pawn the children and the cat, and put all that money on Luffman.