THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

For parts one and two of the World's Greatest B1G Wrestling Championships Preview Ever, click  here  and then  here . DJ SHANNON Below is a list of  the awful people that DJ Shannon might have to wrestle at 174 in the Big Ten Tournament, based upon Intermat rank, followed by overall wins, conference wins, and seedingly significant wins and losses: DEVIATIONS.   The list above is based upon Intermat rankings, then some guesses for the unranked folk. It is helpful to make assumptions about conference pre-allocations and seedings, but that information should come out later today (Thursday, February 24).  I have a  very  hard time seeding Michael Kemerer at #4. It is probably the correct seed given his head-to-head losses, but as a B1G coach, I might protest and rebel against it.  The major deviations can occur between seeds eight through ten. They have one of those crazy-weird head-to-head loss scenarios. You see, Shannon beat McNally, but Fishe...

For part one of the preview--containing analyses of 125 through 141--please click here .  BIG TEN TOURNAMENT TRIVIA 1.  If you go to Wikipedia and type in "Big Ten Wrestling Tournament," you get jack squat. Well, there's actually a  redirection page that lists twelve entries showing twelve Big Ten wrestling teams. Two teams are missing from that list. Can you tell me which two? Hint: One of the missing teams has a girl's name.  2.  How many times has ILLINOIS won the Big Ten Wrestling Tournament? Hint: The school has won it more than seventeen times but less than nineteen times .   CHRISTIAN KANZLER -- 149 Here is the lineup of tough guys that Christian will have to beat at 149 in the Big Ten Tournament: DEVIATIONS.   I think the Intermat rankings look pretty good. The question is what the Big Ten coaches do with Kanen Storr. He's just 1-1 in conference duals and has only ten matches on the year. That has a direct impact on Kanzler, as he and Blo...

WHAT:   Big Ten Conference Championship WHERE:   Stupid Lincoln, Nebraska WHEN:   March 5-6, Session I starts a 10:00 AM (Central) TV/STREAMING:   BTN, possible streaming or tape delay from BTN+ THAT BTN+ SUBSCRIPTION All sessions are scheduled on BTN on both days. The ILLINI schedule shows that BTN+ will stream the event, but whether or not that will be via tape delay is unknown at this time. The BTN+ event calendar does not show the BTT on either March 5 or 6 at this time. I will not cancel my BTN+ sub at this time, as I don't have BTN here where I live, under an overpass in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  TIME CAPSULE It was March 6, 2005.  "Candy Shop" by 50 Cent topped the charts. The box office leader was The Pacifier starring Vin Diesel as a Navy SEAL sent to watch the children of a fallen comrade. Resident Evil 4, a survival horror third-person shooter video game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo GameCube, enthralled millions of kids around the w...

I am now filled with so much bloody ILLINI and ILLINOIS pride, I could pick up the Earth and move it a thousand miles. Great IHSA tournament, great effort from the recruits, love the new ILLINOIS Matmen trophies for most dominant, beautiful stories, wonderful event, let's keep this train rolling! WOOOOO!   Look at this: I have watched the wrestling community go into its shell because of the Covid, and this was a kind of coming out party. A reawakening. This is what we do. These are the things we love. This is what we want.  And we can have it all.  Hat tip to Mario! Remember the "Rumble on the Rooftop," when the IRTC showed the national wrestling community how to keep wrestling strong during the Covid?  I was so proud of that.  The first into the breach. It has been hard, and we're not done yet, but I love the light at the end of the tunnel. It's a beautiful light.  Kole Brower proved to be everything we had hoped for and more! He's now a two-time Stat...

COACH POETA The ILLINI recruits had a big day yesterday, and they'll have another big day today. ILLINI Head Coach Mike Poeta must have been happy with everything he saw on Friday, as he let the world know: KOLE BROWER I aggravated some of my old wrestling injuries just watching Kole Brower wrestle. His wrestling is dominance-based; he's confident and quick with a side of nasty.  The good Nasty.  Like the way you want your kid to stand up to a bully. That kind of Nasty.  I stole some nice warm-up shots from Twitter of Kole Brower and his teammate, Noah Tapia, warming up: Since our last post, Kole has won in the quarters and the semis and now is into the finals against Batavia's Kaden Fetterolf. Here is the remainder of his bracket: The video for Brower's match with Jimmy Nugent doesn't start until Kole is already down 2-6 with only a minute to go in the first period. Unfazed and confident in his ability to take anybody down, Kole came back methodically, until ...  W...

  UPDATE ON KOLE, KANNON & WILL, ALSO INCLUDING GHEE RACHAL I hope they're feeling comfortable at Assembly Hall (State Farm Center), as this will be their home in the future. So far, it seems that way, as Kannon Webster, Kole Brower and Will Baysingar all advance. Additionally, I left out Ghee Rachal in my earlier post. A regrettable mistake. I don't know if he's coming to ILLINOIS next year, but I greedily want all Rachals past, present and future on the team. So, here's Rachal's bracket: TRACKWRESTLING AND FLO Navigating around Trackwrestling is like arguing with a Russian who only knows the word, "Nyet." It is always a surprise when I finally find the dashboard or bracket that I'm looking for.  You can almost hear the Trackwrestling program say, "You look for 138 3A Bracket? Nyet! You must produce form MD-217 in triplicate to Moscow Politburo three weeks advance!"  And Flo.  Dude, I paid for an annual subscription, and I still get a st...